Karen sat in her office. First lesson had just started. She had managed to keep out of the way for the first half an hour of the day. She wasn't stupid and she knew that some of the students and possibly staff would have seen what had happened in the car park. The last thing she wanted for anyone was for that to spill over into the school.
There was a knock on the door. Karen decided to get up and open the door herself. She had checked the timetables and knew that both Charlie and Maria were teaching first lesson, however she didn't want any nasty surprises. Opening the door she found herself smiling straight away. Quite the opposite of any nasty surprises Rob was stood in front of her. She opened the door. "Come in." Rob nodded and walked inside. Karen shut the door before Janeece could make a smart comment. Before Karen could say a word Rob kissed her gently on the lips. Karen was surprised but before she knew it was kissing him back. The pair stayed locked for a minute before they both pulled away.
"Was that for any reason in particular?" Karen sat down on the sofa at the side of her office. It seemed wrong to sit behind her desk.
Rob nodded. "I need you to know that I really care about you Karen." He took a deep breath. "I will understand if you can't do, well if you can't do us. With everything that's going on at the minute the last thing you need is a new relationship." He sat down on the sofa next to her. He had been dreading this conversation but he knew that he had to do it. He cared too much about her to let her get hurt.
Karen nodded. "Are you saying that you don't want this?" She didn't want to show him any emotions. He didn't need to know how much she had fallen for him, or how much she felt that she needed him.
Rob shook his head. "Weren't you listening? I was worried about you. There's so much going on...I didn't want to be making anything harder." He looked at Karen and was surprised to see a tear running down her face. He had never seen her cry before. "I'm sorry Karen..." He reached up a hand to wipe away the tear.
"Why are you apologising. I can't imagine doing this without you Rob...the kids like you, and you make sense to them. I'm falling in love with you, and you make me feel that I can do this...like I can do all of this." She smiled at him. "I couldn't do this without you."
Rob sat there for a moment. He was sure that none of the staff would believe the Karen Fisher he knew. Gone were the barriers. He lent towards her. "I'm not going anywhere." Then he kissed her. He had only intended it to be a gently kiss on the lips, but then he felt her all around him and he kissed her harder. They only parted when there was a second knock on the door and Harry flew in looking flustered. They both jumped up.
Harry wasn't fussed about whatever was going on in there. He knew that his Mum and Rob were happy, and as far as he was concerned that was what mattered. Right then he had more important things on his mind. "It's Jess...well Jess and Maria, Maria's screaming at her...everyone can hear."
...
Jess sat in her English class. It was the only one of the fortnight taught by Grantley Budgen, and try as she might she could not get herself interested. She was reading the worksheet in front of her over and over in an attempt to stay awake. There was a knock on the door. The whole class looked up. Jess felt her whole being sink as she saw Maria walk through the door. She didn't look happy.
"Can I talk to Jessica please Mr Budgen?" Grantley nodded and everyone looked towards Jess.
Jess sat where she was. Her Mum had wanted her to keep her head down and that was what she was doing. She didn't want to get involved in what would undoubtedly become a row.
"Jessica would you come outside?" Maria started walking down the classroom.
Jess could feel her body start to shake. She wasn't sure whether she wanted to scream or cry. One thing she was sure of was that she certainly didn't want to go outside the class. Suddenly Maria's arm was round hers and she had been dragged to her feet. There was a collective gasp around the classroom. Jess knew that she had no choice and followed Maria from the classroom.
"Now listen hard Jess. All I have ever tried to do is be patient and fair. I know that I've lost my temper with you, but that's only ever been after you've pushed too hard. You have to start thinking about more than yourself. Have you even given one single thought to what all of this is doing to your Dad?"
Jess wanted to smile, she had wondered when the blackmail tactics would start. So much for keeping her head down. "I don't want to talk to you about this." She kept it short, she didn't want to argue.
"TOUGH. YOU HAVE SPENT FAR TOO LONG GETTING WHAT YOU WANT." Maria took a step towards Jess forcing her back towards the wall. Her shouts echoed around the bare corridor.
Jess stood looking down. She wouldn't do this, she wasn't going to argue back.
"WELL...ARE YOU GOING TO SAY SOMETHING? ANYTHING? OR ARE YOU TOO ASHAMED OF WHAT A SLAG YOU ARE?"
The words stung and Jess felt a tear in the corner of her eye. She tried to swipe it away before Maria saw, but it was too late.
"So you have emotions then...I was wondering."
Jess looked up and around, she could see kids looking through each of the windows, and there were teachers at their doors trying to figure out what was going on. Jess looked towards Maria. "I'm not the one in the wrong."
"HOW DARE YOU." Jess took another step back. Maria was turning redder and Jess was starting to worry about where this was going, and this time there was no one to protect her. "HOW DARE YOU SUGGEST THAT THIS IS ANYONE'S FAULT APART FROM YOURS...I DON'T SEE ANYONE ELSE PREGNANT BY AN UNKNOWN MAN. OR TEARING UP THEIR FAMILY..."
Jess shook her head. "That's not true...you know that's not true." She was shaking and couldn't stop the fresh set of tears flowing. She could see Tom Clarkson and Chris Mead walking towards them. More importantly she could see her Mum and Rob running from the opposite direction followed by Harry. She ran towards her Mum and flung her arms around her. She wanted to apologise, she wanted to make everything better, but the more she though the more tears fell.
Karen looked down at her daughter and then towards Maria. "We will talk about this later Maria." She looked around at the growing crowds. "Everyone back to your class. There's nothing to see." Then she turned and still holding Jess close started walking back towards her office.
